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25 worst Oscar snubs of all time

When it comes to Oscar snubs, start with 1939's "The Wizard Of Oz." This timeless classic was nominated for Best Picture, but lost. The winner? Well, let's just say 1939 was a tough year. "Gone With The Wind" took home the top prize.

Every film student has been told for the past 50 years that "Citizen Kane" is the greatest movie of all time. But did it win Best Picture for 1941? Nope. That honor went to "How Green Was My Valley."

Fast-forward a few years. One would think the great "Star Wars" would have a shot at Best Picture for 1977. The academy wouldn't have it. Instead, the winner was Woody Allen's "Annie Hall."

In a snub that Academy critics often use to highlight the way comedic performances are treated by the Oscars, Steve Martin delivered a comic gem in 1984's "All of Me," but was no where to be seen when Oscar nods were handed out.

Hands down, "Goodfellas" was the finest piece of cinema produced in 1990. What, you're laughing? Do I amuse you? Am I funny? Funny like a clown? Anyway, the Martin Scorsese classic lost to Kevin Costner's "Dances With Wolves" that year in the Best Picture race.

Steven Spielberg's World War II epic drama "Saving Private Ryan" thrilled audiences in 1998. But the academy wasn't as moved by this story as it was by "Shakespeare In Love," which ultimately won Best Picture.

In 2008 many fans and critics listed "The Dark Knight" as one of their favorites, but the film didn't even earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Ingrid Bergman is unforgettable as "Isla" in "Casablanca." But while the movie proved to be an Oscar favorite, winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay along with five other nominations, Bergman was blanked by the Academy.

The Academy is notorious for choosing mass appeal movies over grit and substance films and 1980 was no exception, when it picked "Kramer vs. Kramer" over the masterpiece that is "Apocalypse Now."

Borlis Karloff painted a picture of a sympathetic creature capable of monstrous things in 1931's "Frankenstein." And he did so entirely with grunts and facial expressions. Not good enough for Oscar apparently.

Robert Mitchum was mesmerizing in 1955's "Night of the Hunter." Who can forget the "HATE" and "LOVE" tattoos on each hand? Apparently the Academy, as not only Mitchum was overlooked, but the movie didn't receive one Oscar nod.

Jim Carrey picked up the Golden Globe in 1998 for his well-received dramatic turn in "The Truman Show." But he lost the Oscar to Roberto Benigni for "Life is Beautiful."

Gary Oldman practically became Sid Vicious in "Sid and Nancy" but wasn't even nominated for the performance. Instead, Best Actor in 1987 went to Paul Newman in "The Color of Money," Newman's only win in nine acting nominations. Oldman would have to wait until 2012 for his first Oscar nomination, Best Actor for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."

What would 1975's "Jaws" be without Robert Shaw's "Quint"? A lot less of a movie is the answer. But while the film did win three minor Oscars and earn a Best Picture nod, Shaw was nowhere to be seen on the Academy's dance card.

Jack Nicholson is often knocked for only playing one role: himself. But those who say that never have seen the slow-burning menace he brings to Jack Torrance in "The Shining." Apparently the Academy didn't either, as Nicholson received the same number of Oscar nods for the role as did Stanley Kubrick's 1980 movie itself: zero.

Nicholson's snub is not so mysterious given the Academy's apparent disdain of all things Kubrick. Of late director's films, only "2001" won an Oscar, and that was for best visual effects.

But Kubrick is in good company. The Academy also turned its nose up at Alfred Hitchcock during his career. The famed director of such movies as "Rear Window" and "Psycho" was nominated five times as director in his career but never won.

Cher has an Academy Award. So does Goldie Hawn, Mira Sorvino and Marisa Tomei. Glenn Close? None. Despite receiving six nominations, starting with her first in 1982 for "The World According to Garp" and including one this year for "Albert Nobbs," Close has never won.

Perhaps the Academy was asleep in 1999 when it voted Gwyneth Paltrow to win Best Actress for "Shakespeare in Love" over Cate Blanchett as the title queen in "Elizabeth."

Sure, 1994's Best Picture winner "Forrest Gump" is a likable enough movie, but "The Shawshank Redemption" was better. Know what movie was even better that year? Quentin Tarantino's groundbreaking, violent "Pulp Fiction."

Audrey Hepburn was nothing short of astounding in "My Fair Lady." The movie was a big winner in 1965, taking Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Rex Harrison along with five other awards in 12 total nominations, but Hepburn, whose lone Oscar was for 1953's "Roman Holiday," was nowhere to be seen.

It's a scene every movie lover knows and loves. Gene Kelly is the definition of uplifting while dancing in the pouring rain and the rest of his performance in "Singin' in the Rain" ain't too shabby either. The film earned only two nominations, neither of them for Kelly.

One of cinema's most indelible images of apathetic evil was brought to life by Malcolm McDowell in Kubrick's masterpiece of ultraviolence "A Clockwork Orange." The 1971 movie earned Kubrick three nods, for director, picture and screenplay, but McDowell was shut out.

Has there ever been a movie killer more likable yet more disturbing than the one created by Anthony Perkins in "Psycho"? Yet his performance as "Norman Bates," was overlooked by the Academy in favor of roles that don't quite resonate as loudly today.

Upon viewing "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," many actually believed Leonardo DiCaprio to be a mentally-challenged young actor –- that is how convincing his performance was. But the Academy presented its Best Supporting Actor award in 1993 to Tommy Lee Jones for "The Fugitive."

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